State prosecutors have accused Dhiggaru constituency MP Ahmed Faris Maumoon of having been the key figure behind a long conspiracy to overthrow the government.

At the hearing held over the state’s bribery allegations against the parliamentarian, prosecutors said Faris had bribed fellow MPs Ilham Ahmed and Abdulla Sinan to topple the current administration from within and oust incumbent President Abdulla Yameen.

They claim the roots of the plot extend back to 2013 and that MP Faris had even plotted to force the external removal of government by bribing judges and police officers, with the direct assistance of then Commissioner of Police Ahmed Areef.

At the hearing on Sunday, Faris quipped that the allegations against him sounds like a story spawned of a ‘dream someone had’. Faris and his father, former president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom have been arrested for plotting and funding a ‘judicial coup’ to remove Yameen from office.

Both of them have vehemently denied the charges, as have controversially arrested Supreme Court justices Abdulla Saeed and Ali Hameed. In the hearings held thus far, all of them have denounced the charges as unfounded and inadequate.